Usha Vance is a lawyer, Yale graduate, Hindu daughter of Indian immigrants, and just became America’s “Second Lady.”
She came into the spotlight after her husband, J.D. Vance, was selected as Donald Trump’s running mate in the 2024 presidential election.
Almost immediately she quit her job as a lawyer and appeared on stage to introduce him at the Republican convention.
So she told her husband’s taste. He was a “working class guy” who overcame childhood trauma to attend Yale Law School.
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A “meat and potatoes” man who adapted to her vegetarian diet and learned to cook Indian food for his mother.
He served in Iraq, but was a “tough Marine” who loved nothing more than “playing with puppies and watching the movie “Babe.”
This duality was reflected in the way the two described themselves as committed Republicans but first and foremost parents.
Mrs. Vance spoke of her husband’s “extraordinary ambition” to start a family, while he called her “a great lawyer and an even better mother.”
Upbringing and family background
Mrs. Vance, 38, was raised in San Diego by her parents, who immigrated to the United States from India in the 1970s.
Her mother is a biologist and president of the University of California, San Diego. Vance’s camp says her father is an engineer.
In her introductory speech at the Republican convention, she said her middle-class upbringing was very different from her husband’s experience growing up poor in Ohio.
“It’s a testament to this great country that J.D. and I were able to meet, let alone fall in love and get married,” Mrs. Vance said. “That’s also a testament to JD.”
Photo: Associated Press
Photo: Reuters
In an interview with Fox News in June, Mrs. Vance spoke about her upbringing in a religious family.
“My parents are Hindu and that’s one of the things that made them such good parents and really good people. And I’ve seen the power of that.”
Vance told the station that his wife helped him “recommit” to his Christian faith.
Mrs. Vance received a bachelor’s degree from Yale University through a Gates Cambridge Scholarship and a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Cambridge.
She then returned to Yale University to attend law school, where she met her current husband.
How the couple met
Vance said in his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy that the two met through a class assignment, where he quickly “fell hard in love” with his writing partner.
“Usha’s presence made me feel at home in a place that always seemed a little foreign,” he wrote.
In a 2017 interview with NBC, Mrs. Vance said she liked that Mr. Vance, then just a friend, was “very hardworking” when they were assigned to work on a brief together in law school.
“He showed up to every 9 a.m. appointment I set up to work on a brief together,” she said.
The two graduated in 2013 and married the following year.
They live in Cincinnati, Ohio and have three children: Ewan, Vivek, and Mirabel.
Photo: Reuters
career as a lawyer
After graduating from law school, Mrs. Vance worked for one year as a clerk for Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who is currently on the Supreme Court, when he was an appellate court judge in Washington, and then as a law clerk for Chief Justice John Roberts. Worked for 1 year.
Justice Roberts recently ruled 5-4 in favor of Trump’s travel ban on several Muslim-majority countries.
In another ruling, a 7-2 majority sided with a Christian baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a gay couple.
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Most recently, Mrs. Vance was an associate at the 200-lawyer firm Munger, Tolles & Olson, where she focused on civil litigation and appellate matters.
The company’s customers include Berkshire Hathaway, Bank of America, and PG&E.
Her clients there included a division of the Walt Disney Company and a trustee of the University of California, according to court records.
A spokeswoman for Munger said she was an “excellent lawyer and colleague.”
What JD Vance said about his wife
In a 2017 interview, Vance talked about meeting him as a law student. “What I remember about Usha is how completely positive and confident she was.”
In his memoirs, he credits some of his success and happiness to his wife.
“Even at my best, I am a delayed explosion. I can be quelled, but only with skill and precision,” he wrote.
“Not only did I learn how to control myself, but Usha learned how to manage me too.”
He also said on the 2020 podcast “The Megyn Kelly Show” that he benefits from having a “strong female voice” on his shoulder.
“Usha definitely brings me back to reality a little bit. Even if I might be a little too cocky or a little too proud, I tell myself that she’s so much better than me. I just have to tell you,” he said.
